The Anatomy of A Silent Crisis The Anatomy of A Silent Crisis

34 Forum 2009: Climate Change – The Anatomy of a Silent Crisis
Poverty: Climate change increases poverty
Climate change and the cycle of poverty
Because the poor tend to live in geographical and climatic regions that are naturally most
vulnerable to climate change, their capacity to adapt is easily overwhelmed by the impact of the
changing conditions. They have the least assets to rely on in the event of a shock — whether it be
a weather-related disaster, a bad harvest or a family member falling ill. These factors build on each
other and create a perpetuating cycle of poverty that is difficult to break. Safety net structures like
insurance are also largely unavailable to the world’s poor. Many are subsistence farmers, fishermen,
or have jobs in the tourism industry—vocations highly dependent on natural resources such as
the ocean, forests and land for their livelihoods. Climate change compounds existing poverty by
destroying livelihoods. Specifically, rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, floods, droughts
and other weather-related disasters destroy crops and weaken or kill livestock. Rising temperatures
and acidic oceans destroy coral reefs and accelerate the loss of fish stock. 99 Loss of biodiversity,
weather-related disasters such as hurricanes, disease outbreaks and sea level rise have strong
negative impacts on tourism. The Coral Reef Alliance estimates that coral bleaching can result in
billions of dollars in losses due reduced biodiversity, coastal protection and income from reef fisheries
and tourism. 100 $6-7 million losses are projected in the next 10 years if coral does not recover in the
Philippines based on the net present value of the local diving industry. 111
Climate change drives poverty through a vicious circle of reduced crop yield and resulting lower
income, which leaves fewer resources for the following year’s planting season. About 60 percent
of developing nations’ workforce, about 1.5 billion people, are employed in agriculture, livestock,
fisheries and tourism. 102 Most of the farmers live on bare minimum production and losing a small
amount of their yield pushes them even further into poverty. Fishermen and those employed in
tourism lose income or become unemployed.
The loss of biodiversity is worrisome not only due to its direct impacts on people’s livelihoods,
but also due to the intrinsic value of biodiversity and its pivotal role in building the poor’s resilience
to climate change. A vicious cycle evolves as climate change fundamentally alters ecosystems and
reduces species diversity. For example, species diversity assists in strengthening the ability for cod
or lobster fishing resources to sustain stress and shocks. Ecosystem self regulating processes
are pivotal, such as the creation of natural carbon sinks which remove carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere. Increased landscape diversity with varied plant species and natural coastline barriers
like mangrove forests can protect coastal inhabitants and their belongings from climate shocks like
coastal storms and soil erosion. Having an assortment of traditional seeds to help identify more
drought resistant crop varieties is increasingly critical to survival in drought-prone areas. There is
great cause for concern as the IPCC estimates that 20-30 percent of global species are likely to be
at risk of extinction this century.